Starry Night
by bandits345
Summary: Flynn Rider never came across the tower. Rapunzel is now 25 years old and has the guts to leave the tower alone. She finds a man named Flynn alone in the woods.


"Happy 25th birthday", Gothel exclaimed with a fake smile. Her fingers gently combed through Rapunzel's hair. Her eyes darted to her own stray, gray ones.

Rapunzel slurped while eagerly drinking her hazelnut soup.

"Thank you, mother", Rapunzel hugged her mother with as much force she could muster. She glanced up and met her distracted eyes with her own excited ones.

"Anything else you want, dear?" Gothel noticed that the stars' painting was uncovered and newly painted. She kept adding more stars with each passing year since her 18th birthday. Gothel predicted that she can't keep her flower inside for long, as she is no longer the inanimate object she loved so dearly. No. Instead, she realizes that Rapunzel has needs that every human has- to quench their curiosity. Gothel thought that her stories were enough. No. Rapunzel wants to see it for herself.

"Well…" Rapunzel looked at Pascal for encouragement while playing with her fingers.

"I want a book on the stars."

"The stars?", Gothel repeated surprised. She immediately thought of the Library of Corona.

"If this is what will keep the flower happy…" The journey would take only a couple of hours. She could be back by tonight if she didn't stop. Anything was also better than what Rapunzel wanted in previous years.

She pondered the journey while caressing Rapunzel's hair.

"Alright. Pack my things. I'll leave as soon as you sing to me." She sighed as Rapunzel immediately jumped up to gather the chair and brush. Her mother sat slowly on the chair as to procrastinate. The weather sent a heat wave through the island.

Rapunzel bounced right on the stool and forced the brush into her mother's hands. She quickly sang the only tune she was ever taught.

"Flower gleam and glow. Let your power shine. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine."

When she sang the last note, she stood up and ran to the nearest basket. From her cupboards, she grabbed bread, cheese, apples, and a water canteen. She turned around to witness her mother fixing her dress in front of the mirror. She poked at her face repeatedly for reasons that Rapunzel still couldn't understand.

Rapunzel walked up behind her and handed her the basket.

"Have a save trip mother. I love you." Her mother grabbed the basked and kissed her cheek.

"I love you more" she muttered as Rapunzel tied her hair around the handle to create a rope for her to safely exit the tower. She climbed down with eagerness. As much as she hated nature, she hated being in that tower more than she needs to.

While Rapunzel waited for her mother to arrive, she studied her star graph. She thought it was odd. The stars were always in the same position when they came around. Every time the lights lit up on her birthday, they were always in different positions.

They can't be stars. However, just to make sure, Rapunzel wanted that book anyway. Besides, she's always wanted new material to gloss over on days where mother was gone.

She turned to Pascal.

"Do you think they're stars". She glanced at her green chameleon friend.

Her friend shrugged at her question and pointed at the chess game. He doesn't like it whenever she obsesses over the lights. It caused her so much stress.

She draped the curtain over her observations.

"Just one game".

Before long, the sun disappeared and they were on their 15th game. Rapunzel won 14 of them. She glanced at Pascal, who turned red from frustration and anger.

"Checkmate", she exclaimed as Pascal climbed on the board and used his tail to smack some of her pieces away.

"Don't be such a sore loser". She stuck her tongue out at him as Pascal slapped her forehead with his own.

"Another game.", she proclaimed as placed the pieces back at their starting position.

She noticed weird, rectangular shadows flying across the board. She looked up and saw them all over the room. Pascal already has his eyes set on the window and used his tongue to carry himself over to the window sill. Rapunzel quickly joined him.

The lights danced across the starless sky, which illuminated in her green eyes. They came out slowly at first. Overtime, over fifty flew up every minute. There is no indication from where the starting point may be. They seem to just climb over the tress and mysteriously appeared. Sometimes, the lights would bump into each other. The lights started to dim after a while and slowly descended.

"Are these a special type of stars?" Rapunzel wondered as she saw many lose their altitude and disappeared.

Rapunzel went to bed after all the lights dissipated. Her thoughts were crowded from the questions lingering.

She woke up next morning to find her mother gone and the book on the foot of the bed. On the cover was a note.

 _I'll be back in 5 days with more food and more fabric for you to make my dresses with._

 _Much love,_

 _Mother_

Rapunzel put the note aside and picked up the novel. It was a large book with _Stars, Stars, and More_ written in a large, swirly font. On the bottom of the cover was a phrase that Rapunzel didn't recognize.

"George Hood". She read. She opened the book and began to read.

"Chapter 1. What are they?"

A couple hours later, Rapunzel was more than confused.

"Stars are stagnant, gaseous balls situated in the universe. They are usually larger than planets and are one of the many reasons that life can be fostered on our own planet. They are usually thousands of miles away and take years to collapse."

The lights she saw were nothing like that. Mother always told her that the lights were stars. Either she lied or she is oblivious to the true nature of stars.

She assumed the latter, but still, she wanted to know more.

Pascal pointed to the outside with his tail.

She walked up to the window.

"It will only be for a little while. Plus, I won't go far. It will only be to document the stars", she said with an unconvincing tone. Pascal bit her dress to pull her closer to the window.

"Just for a little while." She hooked her hair around the handle.


End file.
